To London for the weekend. Surely when over a million people march through London
peacefully saying “Put it to the people” it must mean something? There were some fantastic people I marched with, from all walks of life, all wanting more say and another opportunity to vote, a simple stop to Article 50. Still I fear no change.

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This picture of Margaret Thatcher met me in the toilet in the cafe opposite the White Cube. I couldn’t resist sticking my spare sticker onto it. I was sure that was what she was saying! Apologies for this minor bit of disobedience. I never thought she would feature in anything I did.

I love galleries which stay open late. It’s a good time to relax, contemplate and muse. On Friday night I stayed late in Tate Modern and enjoyed Pierre Bonnard, Dorothea Tanning and Jenny Holzer. I know Bonnard is popular but I am still not sure about his motives. Slow looking was recommended. I am a slow looker by nature. Why does the woman (his partner) in the bathroom have heeled shoes on? No-one takes their shoes off last in the bathroom! Why is there a creepy face behind the door in the dining room? Why did he play with two women’s emotions leading to the suicide of one of them. Was he just checking out that he should marry Marthe, even when he’d had 30 years to check her out? A last fling with Renee? Because he could? The domestic scenes are more beautiful and less disconcerting if you look quickly!

I’m not sure why I didn’t know about Dorothea Tanning. Her work is so striking and the range is extraordinary, painting, sculpting, stitching, use of doors in her work, installations. Hotel du Pavot Room 202 heavy with claustrophobia, a person climbing in and out of the walls, grabbing limbs and fingers – are they appearing or disappearing? “Behind the door Room 2” is fabulous. The foot strong against the wood of a piece of door built into the painting is really powerful. Is it her mother or father’s knee she is sat on? Is she kept in, trying to keep out or go in?

Her theatre sets are also intriguing. Doors, spaces, dark places. What’s going on behind? I might use some of these ideas for my photographs. It all resonates. She seems to be clear that she had a good family life but you would not think so from her work. Surrealism, psychoanalytical ideas talking? Her “By what love “, a sculpture a woman in chains (1970) tweed, wool, metal, chain and plush reminds me of Louise Bourgeois.

Jenny Holzer interests me because of the use of text in her work. I find the work on Truisms, and the Survival Series absorbing. Her late 1970’s question ” How do you cope – within and without – when all these views are present, sometimes clamoring, sometimes fighting, sometimes murderous?”, is so now. It could have been written for our current state of national and international madness. “BODIES LIE IN THE BRIGHT GRASS AND SOME ARE MURDERED AND SOME ARE PICNICKING” (1984?) has a visceral impact on me. Could she see ahead? Her collaboration with Pink Lady “If you expect fair play” strikes home – “I AM NOT FREE BECAUSE I CAN BE EXPLODED ANYTIME”.

Phyllida Barlow at the RAA was my first stop here. “Cul De Sac”. I love her ability to turn everyday materials into monumental works. You don’t need a forge to create her work but
the materials, a lot of space, sometimes access to help and the vision of course. I love her work, first experienced at Margate Turner contemporary “Entangled Threads and Making ” 2017. Her work is made in a constructive and destructive way. It might not last. It might be as monumental as a huge bronze but it often has an impact that stays with you long after.

Makes you want to touch it and go into it!

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And finally my first visit to White Cube, Bermondsey. “A Fortnight of Tears” – Tracey Emin. I chose this exhibition because of its connection to my photographs and womanhood at least in aspects of subject and experience. The huge photographs – self portraits and her paintings have a visceral impact, you can see and feel the woman. No-one does this quite like Tracey Emin. I think men find her difficult, perhaps women do too. I overheard a man ask his female companion “Do you like this?” with incredulity. For me art isn’t necessarily something to desire to have your wall at home – it can best speak to you sometimes in a public space, in a setting big enough to allow it to be and you to respond. You can see it when you choose to look, that is if it is available.

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In “The ashes” the film slowly circulates around the room and the focus is on the box containing the ashes of Tracey Emin’s mother. It is a strangely beautiful, sad, painful 3 mins 3 seconds.

The end of a really fabulous weekend!